


Agents of SHIELD - Rise of the Iron Rider: Volume 1 “Pandora's War”

by kamenrangerxvi01



Series: Agents of SHIELD: The EXILES Saga [8]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Dimension Travel, Doppelganger, Gen, Kamen Rider - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-10-02 14:37:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 16,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17265983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamenrangerxvi01/pseuds/kamenrangerxvi01
Summary: One of the many jobs taken up by SHIELD was "Project Exiles", the restoration of Skye and Jas' old home world. To do so requires heavy use of the Stark devices, so their use was moved out of the Museum to a new facilty, away from crowds and away from people who could get hurt.While getting ready to demo the devices to some VIPs, SHIELD gets an important alert from the alternate Howard Stark, someone is hording his machines. Scared at the prospect it could be Mysiri, Scott and Skye are sent in.Little did they know they were walking into another insane adventure, one that births a new hero.The story of how Scott became the "Iron Rider"/"Kamen Rider Victory", and how it tested his and Daisy's relationship, almost to a breaking point.(setting- Fall 2019: after "Operation Exiles" epilogue, before "Eternity Cycle"





	1. Chapter 1

October 2019

 

“So Why did you call it ‘Project Exiles’?” President Elis asked.

 

Elis was being given the grand tour of their operations with the Zephyr Zero’s dimension jumping ability, now operating out of an old hanger at Kennedy Airport. 

 

“Well,” Fury explained “Scott? You want to take that one?”

 “This one’s actually on me, Sir” Scott said, “I made a bit of joke of being ‘interdimensional exiles’ during our original trip with the machine and I kinda liked how it sounds.”

“How far along is the project?” the president asked.

“20 percent.” Fury replied

“We've sealed all the breaches to the earth with the Gremlins and expect to get all non-essential personal to their new homes within the next two years and then move on to remediation work, but that’s expected to take a century at the least.” Scott added.

“And by that time, most of the people would have acclimated to their new homes.” The president said “Why are we throwing resources at this.”

 

“Well, Sir, _we’re_ not, not exactly.” Scott said “Our primary tasks have been focusing on coordinating the use of the Stark Devices and getting folks set up on their new worlds. Agent May’s counterpart and her people will be doing most of the cleaning. We have found a few earths more than willing to help out as well. We figure the planet could have other uses once it’s back to full habitably. As a refuge, as a farming world…

“ _Casablanca_ without the Nazis?”

“Basically”

“And this is that device?” he asked, looking at the big, black airplane.

“No, not exactly sir, “Scott corrected him “The original devices were broken down and rebuilt into the plane, but they can be removed if need be.”

 

One of the president’s aids came over “Sir, the van with the other dignitaries will be here in fifteen minutes.”

He nodded and sent her back to what she’d been doing.

“I’m going to need to go begin pre-flight” Scott said to Fury. The older man nodded to him and he began to walk away.

“So, when do I get to meet with Agent Johnson? I owe her one hell of an apology.” The president asked Fury.

“Unfortunately, sir, Daisy will be unable to join us today.”

“I could have sworn I saw here a little while ago?”

“That would be her sister Skye, Agent Riley’s partner.” Fury explained “Daisy is on medical leave at the moment.”

“Too bad… She alright?”

“Severe morning sickness… She’s expecting”

“Feel sorry for the bastard who has to put up with that…”

“Thank you sir… so very much appreciated “Scott replied with a massively sarcastic tone as he headed up the stairs up into the Zephyr.

“Who does he think he is talking to me like that?” Elies asked.

“That would be the ‘Poor Bastard’ in question.”

“Oh…” Was all he could say. “Wait, he works with one and dates the other?”

“Skye is already married.” Fury replied without going into too much detail.

 

Scott was doing his preflight checks in the cockpit when he heard the door open and Elis walk in.

“Son, I’m sorry about before, that was out of line of me.”

“I’m sorry for snapping sir, sleep has been a luxury these past few months. Daisy and I moved in together about a month ago and I’m not used to regularly sharing a bed with anyone, let alone a pregnant woman.”

“Well, fatherhood has its ups and downs…” Elis said as he sat down. “You’re General Riley’s grandson, aren’t you?”

“The one and only.”

“Bet he’s excited, becoming a great grandfather.”

“most people would say so, but I still think he was more excited for the B21…”

“Come on…”

“He’s demanded to be addressed by his Air Force rank by everyone but family since he made Lt. Colonel. Go ask Fury.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Elis said with a chuckle “The Capitol Police have standing orders to not let your grandfather in the building when military committees are in session.”

A beeping noise started from the instrument panel. Scott just started swearing as plane was bathed in a blue glow.

 

 

“Damn it!” Scott yelled walking down the stairs and out into the formless black void. “Damn it! Damn It! Damn It!”

He marched toward the far wall and started banging on it.

“STARK!” He yelled “How many times have I asked for a warning? How many times?”

The wall dissolved to reveal the elder Stark in his chair.

“I’m sorry Scott,” he told him “But I this is urgent.”

“Look, I agreed to help you with your problems. But… sometimes, in order to drop what I’m doing to come running, I need time to actually drop things. Such as him” Scott said, pointing over his shoulder at President Ellis standing behind him.

“Howard Stark, allow me to introduce the President of the United States, Matthew Elis. Mr. President, Dr. Howard Stark, the inventor of the Transdimensional Transporter and Communicator Unit, or what we call the ‘Stark Devices”

“Mr. President, I’m sorry you go dragged into this.” Stark said

“Well, I was here to get a demonstration of the device installed in the plane, so… I guess no harm, not foul.” He said. “Plus, I got to meet you.”

“So, what’s the matter this time?” Scott asked.

 

The hanger bay was full of secret service agents, combing ever last inch of the building looking for Ellis.

Mack and Skye were in the corner under arrest, Fury screaming into his phone.

“Look, I warned him that gadget has a mind of its own.” Mack protested to deaf ears.

Suddenly, the room began to fill with a blue glow and as suddenly as it vanished, the Zephyr Zero was back where it belong.

The door dropped open and Ellis stepped out.

“It’s Ok, I’m alright.” He said “This was all a misunderstanding.”

He walked over to where Mack and Skye were handcuffed.

“What the hell are you doing?” He asked the Secrite Service agent guarding the two. “Uncuff them now.”

“But sir, you were kidnapped.”

“No, someone just wanted a word.”

Scott walked down the stairs followed by unit 827.

“Hello again Agent Skye Johnson” the android said “And I am to assume you are Alphonse Mackenzie?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“I am Stark Universal Autonomous Unit 827. I have been assigned to assist Agents Riley and Johnson in their duties with Mr. Stark.”

“Great…” Mack said, remembering his dislike of robots.

“Scott… I know you didn’t like what he said but…”

“That was Stark, he wanted a word…”


	2. Chapter 2

“Stark told me some of his probes have been behaving erratically.” Scott explained in the hanger’s office space. “They’re not responding to commands and suddenly they all jump to the same world and cease all communications. All told, he’s lost about two dozen.”

“Mysiri?” Mack asked.

“It’s a possibility. She does know how to control them, and we have no idea where she went…”

“Sorry I’m late.” Daisy said, strolling in.

“Daisy?” Scott asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I brought lunch.” She said, holding up a brown paper bag.

“Kinda in the middle of something, honey...”

“Oh… Right… I forgot.” She said, looking around the room.

“Agent Johnson” Elis said, standing and walking towards her “Pleasure to finally met you.”

“Mr. President, likewise,…” she said nervously before sitting down.

 

Elis turned back to Scott “Why doesn’t Stark send his machines?” He asked, looking at 827.

“My brothers and I are limited…” the robot explained “While I can physically act, it is only in defense of Dr. Stark.”

“Skye and I are less conspicuous than the Tin Man here” Scott added.

 

“I have the dimensional coordinates” 827 said “We will need to leave immediately. If this is the work of Mysiri, time will be of the essence.”

 

“The robot’s right” Elis said “If this Mysiri is as much trouble as you say she is, getting to her before she gets to us… I’ve got enough problem with Sherman’s nonsense and finding out the Avengers might have re-written reality…”

He stood

“The tour group can wait. I’m sure President Mace will understand. Go get her, kid.”

 

The plane exited it’s jump, now flying high over empty fields and forests.

“looks quiet…” Scott said “Can you dig anything up?”

“sure thing” A voice answered, with food in their mouth. Scott looked over his shoulder to find Daisy sitting next to Skye.

“Daisy… what are you doing?”

“Having a sandwich… I’m starving.”

“What are you doing _here_?” He asked, getting up and standing in the door.

“Hey, you need my help.”

“If I need your help, I’d have come back and gotten you.”

“Stop babying me.”

“I’m not…Ok… fine, I’ll find a spot to set us down then recon, but I’m not putting you in harms way if I can get away with it.” He said. “Daisy, I know this might come across the wrong way, but I’m worried about you, you can’t just run into battle. You’re fifteen weeks pregnant and if you keep throwing up like this, they’re going to have to hospitalize you, know that, right? Dr. Millworth says you’re borderline on HG, that thing that keep cropping up with the Duchess of Cambridge.”

“I’m… OH GOD!” She said as she got up and ran back to the bathroom.

“I’ll go check on her” Skye said as Scott turned and went back into the cockpit.

“Gonna be one of those days…”

Suddenly, something flying extremely quickly rocketed past the Zephyr.

“What the fuck was that?” Skye asked from the main cabin.

“I don’t know.” Scott replied “It looked like Aunt Carol… 827? Hey! You ok?”

The robot was having what appeared to be something akin to a seizure.

“Agent Riley… I appear to be….be…be… something is infecting me…my…me…I….I”

It’s head dropped. For a second, 827 just sat there, not moving. At the same time, the plane’s radar began detecting more objects flying outside.

Scott looked out the window and was greeted by a swarm of what looked like Iron Man suits.

“Well... this is gonna suck.”

“You have no idea.” 827 suddenly said. It reached out and grabbed Scott by the throat and threw him into the main cabin.

“Why does everyone go for the throat?” He said as he got back on his feet

The robot entered from the cockpit and made straight for Scott.

“Daisy!  Skye! Little help here!” Scott said as the robot tried to choke him again. It tossed him into the forward bulkhead and then threw the couch against the door to the bedroom, traping the two inside. It then dragged Scott over the main door and ripped it open.

“Goodbye Agent Riley” it said as it threw him out of the plane.

 

 

 

“Well… this day can only get better…” Scott said as he fell.

He reached for his belt and pressed a button on a small box. He felt a pin prick his side and a slight surge of energy as his body duplicated Daisy’s vibration powers.

“Ok, practiced this… Just keep calm and this should work.

As he neared the ground, his fired off controlled bursts to try and slow himself.

He mistimed the last burst and slammed into a tree.

 

“Up!” Scott heard someone say as he regained consciousness. While he had practiced landing using Daisy’s and Skye’s powers; he was never very good. This was actually one of the better ones.

“Come on solider, get up!” he heard again.

“Daisy?” He asked, semi lucid.

He heard a familiar click and noticed something in his field of vision. Silouettes of people, standing in front of him. Guns drawn.

“Oh crap, not again…” Scott said. “It’s not choking…

“Grab him” one of the voices said.

By this point Scott’s vision began to clear. He looked around and saw several people in heavy combat gear. One of them was holding a gun in his face.

“Do you know this guy, Agent Johnson?” One of the asked.

“No.” She said, lowering her gun, revealing her face to Scott. It was Daisy, but this one had short hair, almost a buzz cut, with a scar on her cheek, running up past her eye.

“Woah… Hold on there.” Scott said with his hands up.

“Who are you?” the new Daisy demanded.

“My name’s Scott, Scott Riley. I’m a SHIELD agent from another reality. I’m not a threat. My presence here is a complete accident.”

“How do you know me?” She asked.

“Well, I know the you of my earth… quite well…” he said “and in my dazed state I recognized your voice. That’s it. I’m not playing games. I don’t want any trouble.”

“If you know me, then what’s…”

“I don’t know YOU” Scott interrupted “I’ve barely been here ten minutes. No more doing Stark any last minute favors.”

At this point, the assembled agents all raised the guns.

“Was it something I said?”

“You’re working for the Iron King?” One of them yelled.

“The wha…?” Scott said “Is this like a ‘Game of Thrones’ joke?”

The agents surrounding him looked at him like he had two heads.

“You know… ‘Winter is coming?” he looked around at the agents “Christ, I _am_ the only person who watches TV anymore…”

“Anthony Stark, the so called ‘Master of the Cosmic Cube.” Butch looking Daisy answered.

“No…” Scott said “I was sent here by _Howard_ Stark, a version from another Earth. Long story short, I’ve got a machine that lets me jump dimensions like Doctor Who jumps through time and I...”

“Who?” She asked

“Doctor… Look, I’m not doing ‘who’s on first’ lying in a fucking muddy creek!” Scott yelled.

“Fine” She said before turning to the others “Get him up”

 

The pulled him free of the mud.

“You’re coming back to base with us.” She told him.

As the agents led him away, Scott looked over his shoulder in the direction 827 had flown off in the Zephyr. He saw a structure that cut across the horizon. And there was something familiar about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HG = Hyperemesis gravidarum, severe morning sickness.
> 
> Causes weight loss and dehydration in the mother and can lead to a laundry list of complications in the mother and child.


	3. Chapter 3

The dragged him back to a plane he assumed to be the local counterpart of a Quinjet and buckled him in.

“So… How well do you know the other me?” short haired Daisy asked.

“Well, I actually know two of you. One is native to my earth. She’s my fiancée and is carrying our child. Then there is a second you who came to live with us who’s Earth was rendered uninhabitable. She’s my friend and my junior partner. And they’re both on that plane I was just tossed out of.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Is this an official interrogation or are you just curious?”

“Shut up and answer me.”

“that’s an Oxymoron…”

“What did you just call me?”

“Fine, fine… I’ve been sent to locate some missing hardware for a friend. They’re a series of machines, look like old style computer user terminals. They function as interdimensional probes and can be used to bridge relaities. Somehow, several of these machines were brought here, and their creator asked me to find out why. Happy?”

 

The jet touched down and Scott was led outside.

“What, you don’t have Helicarriers?” Angry Daisy asked at Scott’s excited expression upon realizing where he was.

“Yeah, but it’s been grounded and mothballed.” Scott said “I’ve never gotten to go aboard it.”

She turned to one of the deck crew “Alert the Director we have someone here the council might want to talk to.”

The man nodded

“And find out what an Oxymoron is…”

Scott was still gleefully looking around when she came back and grabbed him by the arm.

“Come on, we’ve got people are going to want to talk to you.” She said, pulling him inside.

“Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate?” Scott asked as he past a sign bolted to the wall.

“I though you said you worked for SHIELD… You should know what it stands for.”

“Homeland Enforcement and Division.”

“What?”

“That’s what the H E and D stand for where I come from.”

“Yeah, right…” She said as she led him into a room and sat him down.

 

“Well, agent Johnson, you found something interesting alright.” Director Fury said.

“Thank you sir.” She replied, standing in the corner.

“Do you know who I am, son?” he asked Scott.

“Yes Sir, you’re Nick Fury.”

“How about her.” Fury said, pointing to the woman seated next to him “you know her”

“Maria Hill.”

“How about him?” point to the man seated on his other side.

“No. I’m sorry, I don’t recognize him.”

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier.”

“Pleasure meet you, Professor, Sir.” Scott answered.

“Oh, Sir is not nessiary, I’m just a consultant”.

“Force of habit.”

“So I’m told you’re from another dimension?”

Scott repeated what he’d said to the other Daisy.

“Interesting? Agent Johnson, do you think there’s any connection to Stark and the box?”

“None whatsoever.” She replied.

“Then why did you bring him here?”

“Because I think we can use him.”

“May I ask, Agent Riley” Xavier continued “The report the team sent ahead mention you used a vibrational power to slow your fall. Are you, by chance, a mutant?”

“A what? Um? Well, I’m an Inhuman and I’m an alien if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No, but that’s an acceptable answer.” Xavier said “Wait; did you say you’re an alien?”

“Well, part alien…”

“Interesting…”

 

“Can you tell us anything about this?” Fury said, sliding Scott a picture.

Scott recognized the image immediately.

“Oh my God… That’s… then that was the Skywall… Director Fury, I could tell you everything you could possibly want to know about it.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“On my earth, there was a TV show that used that box as its source of conflict. It was complete fiction, no such box exists, but that’s the beauty of the Omniverse. If you can think of it, there’s a world for it. So I should know everything there is to know about that box.”

“So there was a TV show on your earth about the Cosmic Cube?” Hill asked

“Well it had a different name. They called it the ‘Pandora Box’.”

“You mean Pandora’s Box” Xavier corrected him.

“It was a Japanese show, called ‘Kamen Rider Build’ and they don’t have any concept similar to the ‘Apostrophe S’, so no, I don’t. Let me finish.”

“Sorry.”

“The box was an artifact from another world, when touched, it caused walls to appear, splitting Japan.”

“Splitting it up into five parts?” Hill asked.

“No three.”

“Well, here’ we’ve got five.” Fury said, pointing to a map on the wall, showing the United States split into five sections.

 

Scott stood and walked towards the map.

The five lines shot straight out from what looked like St. Louis. Unlike on the show, where the wall zigged and zagged.

 

“We’ve tried going over them, we tried going under them, we tried going through them” Fury explained “Our only real option is to go around them, but it’s just too hard. So, people began to fight. And within a few years, you had the various sections breaking off.”

“How far does the wall go?”

“Well, the one section runs from Venezuela all the way to Russia. The other sides end when they get a few hundred miles out to sea.”

“It dammed the Caribbean?”

“Yeah, and the Bearing strait. All the fish died within a few years. The states surrounding the gulf banded together, causing a civil war within the section of Mexico on their side of the wall. Most of it joined the Gulf Alliance, but a large section remains independent. Each side of the wall is basically it's own separate country.”

“When did this all happen?”

“2004. I’ll get you the video.”

The screen next to the map switched on. Scott noticed it was a flat panel monitor, let alone a holocom, but a CRT.

The video came up, a live WHIH feed showing Tony Stark giving a speech, standing beneath the Gateway Arch.

“ _200 years ago today, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off up the river from just a few miles away from where we’re now standing, to map a continent and find a route to the Pacific. Today, in their honor, I would like to introduce you to a piece of future history._ ”

A security guard wheeled out a large object covered in cloth.

“ _As I’m sure you’re all well aware, I’ve been to Mars recently, on a ship, fittingly named Lewis and Clark. And I brought back a souvenir._ ”

He yanked off the cloth, revealing the box.

“ _We found this in the bottom of a cave. Physical proof of extraterrestrial life!_ ”

He smiled to the crowd, wave as the flashed popped, and then put his hand on the box.

The box began to glow, and the camera began to shake, then cut out.

“Nearly five million people died that day in the metro St. Louis area alone.” Fury said “Grand total is somewhere much higher. The one wall cuts right across to San Francisco. Destroyed both cities completely.”

“What about Stark?”

“Somehow, he survived.” Hill said “But the next time we saw him, he was encased in an iron suit. Says it keeps him alive. He says the box has given him great power and we’re to surrender to him.”

“That was fifteen years ago? What’s he doing? Just sitting around.”

“We don’t know.” Fury said. “Maybe you could tell us what you saw when you arrived, we might be able to get a fix on your jet.”

“It’s not my jet I’m worried about…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I actually forgot two whole paragraphs that go at the start of this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

“Try the door again.” Daisy said.

“I’ve been trying.” Skye answered, “It’s locked.”

‘Let’s both try.”

The two griped the handle and tried to get the door to move, but it was stuck shut.

“Why would Scott lock us in here?”

“To protect us? It sounded like something’s gone wrong.”

“I don’t need him protecting me.” Daisy said indignantly.

“Scott loves you.” Her sister said, “He doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“So, you’re taking his side?”

“I’m looking out for my sister and my future niece and/or nephew…”

“It’s just… I’m going crazy sitting in the apartment all day. Ever since they put me on medical leave, I’ve had nothing to do. I’m used to always being on the move, not sitting down, watching daytime TV like a housewife.”

“Is that what this is about?” Skye said, shaking her head “Daisy, if you weren’t throwing up constantly, I’d agree with you, but they’re doing this because they love you and don’t want to see you laid up in a hospital bed.”

Skye noticed something out the window as the plane turned

“What the hell is that?”

It was a massive wall stretching from one horizon to the other. It looked to be at least a mile high and was topped by a purplish glowing energy field that stretched even further into the sky.

The plane began to land, causing the door to make a hissing sound.

“That was the pressure lock…” Daisy said before realizing what that meant. “Scott!”

She pulled the door open to find the main cabin a mess and the main door missing.

“WAIT!” Skye said, grabbing onto Daisy’s shirt

“But he could be…”

“You falling out isn’t going to help him.”

 

The plane set itself down and the two girls ran forward and opened the cockpit door.

“827… Where’s Scott?” Daisy asked

“Agent Riley is most likely in a crater caused by his body impacting the ground after I removed him from the plane…”

Daisy’s heart stopped.

“What…”

827 help up its hand, with electricity sparking between its fingers.

“If ether of you would like to join him, that can be arranged.”

Soon, movement was heard outside. 827 walked to the main door and jumped down.

Standing around the plane were what looked like Iron Man suits.

827 stood still before the suits began to climb inside. They grabbed on to Daisy and Skye.

“It would be unwise to fight back” 827 said to them “The Iron King’s Legions are far more numerous. You would not succeed.”

 

The machines frog marched the two down the rear ramp and into a cave.

“where are you taking us?” Daisy asked but got no answer.

The cave seemed to go on forever, before they eventually reached a large, round chamber.

Sitting on the plinth in the center was a strange box, and in the far corner…

“What is this?” Tony Stark asked through his suit “who are you?”

“I am Stark Universal Autonomous Unit 827.” It said, kneeling “I was created by the man who created the machines you have collected. I am at your service.”

“And who are…” he began to look at the two “…remarkable... I should have to look into this further.”

He turned his head to one of the machines “Take them someplace to rest and bring them food. I will deal with them later.”

The robot saluted and the ones holding Skye and Daisy dragged them down another passage.

“Meanwhile, my friend…” Stark said to 827 “You and I have a lot to talk about…”

 

The machines led Daisy and Skye into a room and dumped them on the ground before leaving.

“Now’s our chance.” Skye said as they held put their hands. They fired off their vibrational powers, only for the shockwave to bounce right back at them, knocking them over.

“The hell was that?”

“The power of that infernal cube.” A voice said. The two girls stood and saw an older woman standing in a doorway to another room.

“Who are you.”

“I’m Vicky Stark. The ‘nice man’ you met on your way here is what’s left of my husband Tony.”

“Stark… That was Tony Stark?”

“I guess on your world, things must have worked out better for him.”

“Our… how did you know.’

“He told me. I have an implant that he uses to send me messages. Here, sit down and I’ll explain…”


	5. Chapter 5

“Shame your little whatzit isn’t working.” Xavier said.

“Yeah, I could have had so much help…” Scott said, holding his wrist up “But Stark never made the damn thing waterproof… So it’s get the plane back or I’m stuck till he comes looking for me.”

Scott turned to the map on the wall in the conference room.

“So… It’s the United States and Canada in the east, The Gulf Alliance and what’s left of Mexico in the south, The Mojave Union and Alto Mexico in the southwest, the Cascadian Republic in the northwest and the Plains Confederation to the north. Have I got that right?”

“Pretty much” Xavier said

“Two sides of that junction are probably bone dry, the others swamps if not salt lakes” Scott said as he studied the map.

“You’d think, but the water at arrives at the junction point disappears.”

“And none of you have bothered to look?”

“We can’t.” Xavier said, “no one who goes anywhere near Old St. Louis comes back.”

“That doesn’t make any…” Scot began before face palming “You sent people there intentionally, didn’t you?’’

“Only convicts.”

 “Right, and let me guess, I’m next.”

“Now why would we do that, you haven’t broken the law…” Xavier said, turning towards the window.

“I’ll take that as a joke and move on…” Scott said “What’s this about mutants you asked me?”

“Some of us are born with unique abilities.” Xavier said “For example”

Xavier turned and without moving his mouth at all

“I haven’t been using my voice.” Scott heard in his head.

 

“Well… telepathy… interesting…” Scott said, “Stay out of my head.”

“I will, I promise…”

“Ok…” Scott said, turning back to the map and pictures on the wall.

And waited…

“OH, FOR GOD SAKES!” Xavier yelled “That’s uncalled for.”

“So is lying to me.”

“I’m sorry. We didn’t know if we could trust you.”

“I will grant you that I just appeared out of nowhere, but I have been nothing but cooperative. So if you don’t mind… stay OUT of mine.”

“You would think even something like this wouldn’t cause that much of a division. On the show it was played up as an after effect of the box, drove people crazy, made the violent and egotistical. It didn’t whip out a city…”

“The walls are a mile high and project some sort of force field another five miles into the sky.”

“That still shouldn’t be enough…”

The door reopened to the room and Fury returned.

“The council wants to speak to him…” he said to Xavier.

Scott was led up to a large room.

There were ten people sat around in a circular layout.

“Welcome to our Earth” One said, who Scott recognized as Alexander Pierce.

“Thank you…” Scott said curtly.

“Something I said?” The man asked

“No… Let’s just say on my earth you have…  a history with some friends of mine.”

“Well, I hope I could do something to convince you I’m different.”

“We’ll see… What do you fine folks want?”

“We’d like to ask you a few questions, If that’s alright?”

“I told Director Fury just about everything relevant.”

“You seem to have access to some extremely advanced technology, where do you get it?”

“What technology?”

“The small computer in your pocket, for example.”

“This?” He asked, pulling out his phone “$799 at the Queens Center Apple store.”

“It’s a consumer product?”

“What does this have to do with Stark or my plane or…”

“Absolutely nothing. We have a need for your technical skills.”

“My technical… Look, how about you do us both a favor and cut to the chase, so we can get this over with faster.”

“Well, alright, no need to be blunt about it…” Pierce said before looking at a guard “Bring it in.”

The guard stepped out into the hall and returned with a large rolling dolly. On top of which was one of the Iron Man suits that he’d seen from the plane.

“This is one of the Iron Legion, Mr. Stark’s mechanical troops. We want you to make it work for us…”

“So, an “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” kinda deal?”

“Not exactly,” Fury said, “this is a ‘You scratch our backs, we don’t’ shoot you in yours’ deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The version of Professor X here is roughly in his mid 50s and still has the use of his legs.


	6. Chapter 6

“How long have they been gone?” Fitz asked.

“So far only about six hours.” Fury told him. Fitz had flown up from Washington for part of the day’s events and Jemma to visit with Daisy, but they had been delayed.

“So what should we do?”

“Well, I got a room full of stuffy shirts who want some sort of explanation on how those Stark gadgets do their thing.”

“Well… I guess I could…” He began to say before the three were suddenly enveloped in a bright blue light.

 

“Well… This is a first.” Fury said as he scanned the empty, black room.

“Yes, it is.” Howard Stark said, entering in his chair.

“Well, Mr. Stark…” Fury said “Interesting way to make introductions…”

“I’m sorry to drag you folks into this, but Scott and the others are in danger.” Stark said in a panic “something’s gone wrong...”

“slow down, Mr. Stark.” Fitz said, “From the beginning, what happened?”

“Something’s infected my entire system. Everything’s shut down. I was able to isolate this chamber’s controls, but… Whoever or whatever has been hijacking my machines, now controls them all…”

 

 

“I think I get it now…” Scott said as he slowly pulled the robot apart.

“You know how to fix it?” The local counterpart of Daisy, who Scott had taken to simply calling “Johnson”

“No, what happened.” He said “Stark was always at the forefront of new technological developments. A vast majority of what SHIELD uses came from him, even without him knowing. Then again, until he became Iron Man, he wasn’t much more than a spoiled playboy, didn’t notice his supposed friend was undermining him till it was too late. You need me because my technical knowledge is ahead of yours by what looks like about two decades.”

“Just keep working.” She said.

“Can I at the very least get a sandwich or something?” he asked

“Work! NOW!”

“There has to be something in the Geneva Convention about this…”

“WILL YOU SHUT UP?”

“NO, I can’t. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“Just do it.”

“I can’t do much more.” He said, looking inside

“Look, cut the nonsense or I’m throwing you off this ship. And I mean that literally.”

“It’s not nonsense, the internals are secured differently. I need the right tools to get at it.”

“Fine… I’ll get you another tool kit.” She said before walking towards the door.

“I need a few different sized hex drivers, please…” Scott said as she began to walk away “and a sandwich.”

All she did was give him the finger without turning around as she stepped out, followed by a security agent entering to keep an I on him.

“Is it too much to ask for a sandwich from you?” Scott asked the man.

The agent cocked his gun.

“Thought so…”

 

He waited till the girl returned with a second, larger tool kit.

“Thank you. Where’s…”

“If I hear the word sandwich come out of your mouth again, it will be the LAST thing you ever say…”

“Ok… Jeeze…” He said “might want to take that stick out your ass, it shows when you open your mouth…”

“That’s it!”

She fired off her powers at him only for Scott to counter them.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“I’ve been playing nice.” He said, holding his hand over the bag and summoning up a screw driver. “My family is on that plane, and I want them back. My pregnant fiancée is in danger. I know I’m going to need your help, so I’m doing what I can. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like something to eat…”


	7. Chapter 7

“I first met Tony when we were in college together.” Vicky Stark said “He was so sweet and kind. We got married not long after graduating. We couldn’t have kids of our own, so we adopted, often. Within five years of marriage we’d taken in ten different children who didn’t have homes, and we made the all feel loved. But all that changed when he came back from Mars.

“He became cold, distant. Obsessed with that box. I hadn’t seen him in almost two years. Sure, he’d send me a message every day, but I got more out of his mail than him. I was convinced he was sleeping with one of the two female astronauts that made the trip, but the girls swore up and down nothing had happened.

“Then, came the day the world ended. We were all gathered at the event he was hosting. I watched him touch the box. I watched as it… did things to him. I watched as it… our children…”

She began to cry.

“I’m sorry. It’s just… I don’t get to talk to others about it. I’ve barely seen another human face in the past two decades not my own. Thank you for listening to me ramble.”

Daisy and Skye were unsure what to say.

“What’s the implant for?” Daisy asked

“Tony’s… well, he has an interesting way of showing he still loves me. That suit is all that keeps him alive. He’s told me over and over that I can’t get near the box, and that he can’t get away from it. So… this way, we’re always together.”

“So he’s heard everything you’ve said?” Skye asked.

“Oh yes,” Mrs. Stark said, “he heard me and I heard him talk to you.”

Daisy got up and started banging on the door.

“You hear that Stark? I want out!”

“Now, now, child, that’s not going to do anything but hurt yourself and the baby.”

Daisy stopped.

“You know?”

The older woman nodded.

“Your robot told Tony everything about the two of you.” She said “How you’re from different earths and just tell everyone you’re twins.”

She stepped closer and put her hand on Daisy’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry. About what happened.”

“No… No…” Daisy said, holding back her emotions and her fears “He’s… he’s smart… he’d figure a way out of it. If anyone could, it’s Scott.”

“Out of a 20,000 foot fall?”

“His record is 35,000…” Skye said “But that was into a swimming pool.”

 

 

 

“Well, Agent Riley, what have you got for us… and it better be good.” One of the council members said.

“Well… I dismantled the robot and examined it… There’s not much I can do with it.”

“Why’s that?” another asked, who he recognized as the counterpart to Senator Nadir.

“Well… When you caught it… its AI deleted itself. You’ve got the hardware, but no software.”

“Son” Pierce began, standing “You’re telling me the machine committed suicide?”

“In essence yes.”

“So this was all a waste of time…” Hill asked, cocking her gun.

“Not necessarily.” Scott said “The suit itself works, I just need something else to control it.”

“What are you suggesting.”

“On my world, Stark used this technology to create suits of armor for him to wear. I could probably convert this into something similar. Piloted power armor.”

 

Scott walked up to Pierce.

“I’m willing to play ball. I’ll do just about anything you ask. I just have three conditions. One, I’m not treated like a prisoner. If I want to rest, I rest. If I want to go to the bathroom, I go to the bathroom. Two, when I ask for something, I get it. And Three, no one stands over my shoulder all the time, second guessing everything I’m doing.

“If you’re willing to give me what I need to do this job, I can have this ready for a human user within 24 hours.”

“Well… what do you need?”


	8. Chapter 8

“Um… Director,” Fitz asked as they walked down the street “Are you sure it’s a good idea for us to be walking around in public?”

“Son, part of this job is making it so people don’t notice you.” Fury said “I’m not traveling with a twenty car entourage, now am I? Just a man walking down Lexington ave.

 “Do you really want me to do the ‘Brother can’t hail a cab’ routine?” the director continued.

“No… um… no sir…” Fitz stammered.

“Drop the sir, Fitz.”

“Right, right.”

“Will you two stop?” Jemma asked, walking past them.

“See, she gets it.”

The came across a man, standing on a milk crate on the sidewalk. He was dressed in rags with a massive, dirty beard.

“Bow before the Iron King!” the man yelled “Bow before him!”

“Iron King?” Fitz asked, pretending to check his watch

“Must be some sort of cult deal on this world.” Fury said

“You… young lady, have you heard the glory of the Iron King!” The man said, pointing at Jemma.

“I… I…” Jemma said.

“Sir, please leave her alone.” A passing police officer said.

“The word of the Iron King must be spread!” the man on the box yelled “All must know his wisdom and might.”

The cop sighed before speaking into his radio “Central, it’s post 989… He’s at it again.”

Two big, black trucks drove up and a group of men jumped out.

“Mr. Nelson… Please come with us.” One of them said, a man in a black suit.

“No. You have no power over me! You who defy a god!”

“Sir, we’re only asking nicely once.”

“Glory to the Iron King! Glory to Stark!”

The man in the black suit reached back into the car and pulled out a large gun.

Fitz began to move toward them, but Fury held his hand out.

“Don’t interfere.”

The man in black pulled the trigger and the man on the box fell down to the pavement.

“Don’t worry, folks, he’s going to be OK” The man in black said as the people he was with loaded him into one of their trucks.

“Officer Lucas,” the man in black said to the cop “How many times is this?”

“I think the sixth this year. He seems to love this spot.”

“We’ll get him back to Rikers where people like him belong.”

“Poor guy…” The cop said.

“What was that, Carl?” the man asked with a tone.

“I just felt sorry for him, Agent Parker. I’m not sympathetic to his cause, just his mental state. I’m not looking for trouble.”

“Good…” “Agent Parker’ said as he turned to face the three. “Sorry about that folks. I hope that doesn’t spoil our fine city for you.”

“Come on, Rich, engine’s running” One of the men yelled out of the truck.

The man in the suit climbed in and they drove off.

“Anyone catch what was written on those trucks?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D.…” Jemma said.

“Sorry you had to see that.” The officer said, walking over “Frank’s not well. Keeps coming back here saying he’s had visions…”

“Do you believe him?” Fitz asked.

“Are you trying to get me in trouble? No I don’t believe him?”

“Well, We mean that he sees things, not that they are real” Jemma interjected.

“In that case, probably. I often wonder if he every went near the wall before the exclusion zones were set up.”

“Well, you have a nice day, officer, my associates and I have places to be.” Fury said before ushering the two away.

 

“This place is giving me the creeps.” Jemma said as they sat down on a bench in a square.

“Don’t look now, but it’s about to get creepier…” Fury said, pointing at a large object in the distance.

An APC with SHIELD markings rolled by down Broadway. The flanks had the text “Join SHIELD. Help provide the security to reunite the nation.” A nearby billboard had the same wording with a picture of Fury.

“Nothing subtle here…” Fitz said

Fury pulled his hat down further over his face “I think leaving would be a good idea.”

The three went down a flight of stairs into the subway.

“Hold up, ID’s please?” A man said, standing in their way.

“Why?” Jemma asked.

“It’s the rules miss. You want to go to Jersey, you get checked.”

“Cut it out Sam, she’s obviously not from around her.” Another one said.

‘How am I supposed to know that?”

“Does she sound like it?”

“OK folks, do you want to go to PATH to New Jersey or do you just want the subway?”

“Does the subway require ID?” Fitz asked

“Does it leave the state?” The first officer asked

“Um…”

“Sam… Shut up.” The second said “The answer is no. So, you don’t need ID. The BMT entrance is down that corridor.” The man said, pointing towards a tunnel leading off to one side...

The three started down the passage as they heard the one man give his co-worker a hard time for his behavior. As they walked away, Fury looked over his shoulder and saw the back of the two men’s shirts.

“SHIELD Regional Security Taskforce: Transport Division” Fury read off

“This world is a police state…" Jemma said "and SHIELD is the police.”

“I think it might even be the state…” Fitz said

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cop: Luke Cage   
> crazy guy: Foggy Nelson  
> SHIELD Agent: Richard Parker (Spider-Man's dad)


	9. Chapter 9

The council had given Scott a larger workspace and a few helpers. Johnson was standing in the corner, watching him like a hawk.

“Are you sure about this?” Xavier asked, looking over a device Scott had commandeered to help “This sort of technology…”

“I know what I’m doing.” Scott said. He followed this by accidently shocking himself by touching a cable.

“… right…” Xavier said.

Scott had most of the inner workings removed from the suit, allowing a human to wear it, but was having issues replacing the power supply, which was not an Arc reactor as he knew. Instead it was a larger sphere in the chest cavity, about the size of a basketball.

The local Fury entered the room with Peirce

“How are things going, Agent Riley?”

“Right on schedule.” He lied.

“Is it?” Fury asked Xavier.

“How am I supposed to know?”

“I just need to relocate the power supply and we should be golden.” Scott said, “Give me another few hours and we should be ready to put a person in it.”

“We’ll be the judge of that.” Fury said “No embellishments. No gimmicks. No nonsense. You’re going up against Stark, not some run of the mill kook.”

“Once you get it working to our satisfaction,” Peirce added “We’ll send you and Agent Johnson to find your loved ones.”

“Logan will accompany you…” Fury said, looking at Johnson “That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

“great, secret agent internet boy again…” Scott muttered.

 “I’m not working with him…” Johnson said

“I know he’s not the best to get along with, but he’s the best at what we need him to do…”

An imposing looking man entered the room.

“You called, boss?” He asked.

“Agent Logan, meet Agent Riley… he says he’s from another dimension.”

Logan looked over Scott and sniffed.

“He smells of Terrigin…”

“So far he’s smelled of knowing what’s going on far better than the rest of us…” Peirce said. 

Logan growled, turned, and exited, followed by Peirce and Fury.

 

“What’s his problem?” Scott asked.

“Logan… he’s a mutant like me…” Xavier said “and he’s not too fond of Inhumans.”

“Well, that explains a lot.”

“A friend of myself and Logan… he married one of… I shouldn’t talk like that… this friend married an Inhuman and that caused a chain of events that caused him to be killed. Caused many of our kind to be killed.”

“He does understand I’m not from around here, right?”

“Doesn’t really make a difference to him.” Xavier said, sitting down on a stool “Mutants are not well respected here.”

“I know the feeling.”

“Have you had angry mobs chasing you down and a government willing to destroy innocent lives out of fear?”

Scott gave a short snort of a laugh “We call that ‘Tuesday’ where I come from…”

Scott told him about the Watchdogs and the Sokovia accords.

“I see… I’m sorry Agent Riley, I let my own prejudices cloud my judgement of you.”

“Don’t worry about it… You’re only human.”

 

Xavier watched him work a little longer, until they brought him something to eat and a cot to sleep on.

 

“So… Charles…” Fury asked after Xavier had left the room “What’s going on?”

“He knows I can read minds, Nicholas, I had to tell him.”

“How about in your professional opinion, then?”

“He… he seems like he knows something. Something he’s not sharing.”

“Any idea what?”

“No,” Xavier said, shaking his head “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like trying to pick out a conversation in a crowded room. His mind is full of noise. I’m not sure if it’s him trying to keep what he knows a secret or the fact I’ve never read the mind of an alien before.”

 

Fury stepped into the other room, where the security cameras were monitoring Scott.

“Is this really necessary Nicholas?” Xavier asked “The boy seems to want to help.”

“Pete was my friend two.” Fury said “I saw all of them get killed. I watched them drop dead around me from that gas.”

“But he’s on our side.”

“SO WAS THE LAST ONE…” Fury said, quietly, but firmly as he left to return to his quarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the comics, Quicksilver married Crystal of the Inhuman royal family and the couple had a daughter named Luna.
> 
>  
> 
> The fighting refence is to the "Inhumans Vs X-Men" event from late 2016 to early 2017.
> 
> on my "Pandora Earth" the two events are interconnected and resulted in the near extinction of mutants.
> 
>  
> 
> Terregin in the MCU is harmless to baseline humans (it was the metal that was trouble), but in the comics it's toxic to mutants. Part of the reason why Wolverine had a negtive reaction to it's lingering scent on Scott's body.


	10. Chapter 10

 

“how long have we been riding this train?” Jemma asked as the N train arrived at Coney Island for what seemed like the fourth or fifth time.

“Would you rather spend the night in a homeless shelter?” Fury asked.

She looked over to Fitz, plopped in the corner, fast asleep, then shook her head no.

“Good…”

“It’s just…”

“Stop thinking of me like your boss right now, Simmons.” Fury said “Talk to me…”

“I’m worried.”

“We all are, that’s why we’re here.”

A few minutes later the train was back on it’s way.

Fury seemed to have drifted off as Jemma paced back and forth in the car. Stop after lonely stop passed outside the window.

Eventually, as the train crossed a switch, the lights in the car flickered for a moment and she turned and saw him standing there at the far end. The man from the street.

“He’s chosen you…” The man said, shambling towards her “He looked through my eyes and chose you.”

She screamed, which woke the two men up.

“what the hell!” fury asked, jumping to his feet.

“You two are in my way. My King has chosen her, and my King shall not be denied…”

“Get away from my wife.” Fitz said, standing in front of him.

The two pulled out their guns and pointed them at the man as the train pulled in to the next stop. The three jumped off and ran up the stairs.

“You can’t deny my King!” the man bellowed “If I can’t get you for him, someone else will.”

A shot rang out and the man collapsed on the street. It was Agent Parker, the one who had arrested him before, having shot him in the leg.

“Clean this mess up before anyone sees it… Oh Shit.” He said before walking over to the three.

“Director Fury… Sir? What are you doing here?” Agent Parker asked

Thinking quick, Fury decided to change the subject “That man escaped from SHIELD custody and you’re wondering what I’m doing? Excuse me?”

“I’m very sorry sir, I just thought you were still on the Helicarrier. Looking over that agent from the other dimension.”

“Well, he said a few things I wanted checked out, so I decided to do some investigating of my own. Is that a problem, agent?”

“No sir.”

“Good, now… keep this to yourselves and keep that hobo in a cell for more than five minutes this time.”

“Sir…” One of the agents said, running over. “The perp’s infection is stage four.”

Parker ran his hand down his face in frustration.

“Sorry sir, but we’re going to need to make sure he didn’t spread it to the three of you.”

“Infection?” Jemma said, frightened.

“It’s ok Miss.” Parker said “If he didn’t touch you, you’re fine. He didn’t touch any of you, right?”

The three shook their heads. “We booked it off the train the moment it stopped.”

“Well, let’s get you checked out, just to be on the safe side.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Sir? You know what happens when the infection gets that far advanced.”

“I meant, what are you going to do so you don’t lose a prisoner again. This is the second time today that my associate has been accosted by that man.”

“Again, I apologize sir. He overpowered his guards and broke his cuffs. It’s the infection.”

One of the SHIELD trucks pulled up and Parker opened the door to let the three in.

“So, what’s Mr. Looney Tunes’ story?” Fury asked as they drove.

“Ah, Franklin Nelson. We can’t find much about him, other than he seems to keep dragging himself to that corner in midtown.”

“Who the hell camps out at 35th and Lexington?”

Agent Parker shrugged.

The turned off the main street and pulled up outside a warehouse.

“SHIELD Biological Research Division?” Fitz read off.

“Don’t worry, this shouldn’t take long.” Parker said as they pulled in.

They parked in the loading bay, and Parker led them down a hall.

“Hold on just a second,” He said, stopping outside a room.

“Got another check out for you, Phil.” Parker said to the room’s occupant, a man sitting at a desk, looking towards the wall.”

“I’m busy…” the man said without looking up.

“Phil, now.”

“Alright…” he said, turning in place.

“Coulson…” Jemma and Fitz said together.


	11. Chapter 11

“There’s a level four, needs taking care of.” Parker said “Now, please, before he gets loose again.”

“You’re not my boss, Rick and I’m not the one who lost him… AGAIN.”

“This has happened before?” Fury asked

“Director? Sir, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Coulson said in a slight panic.

“At ease, soldier.” Fury said, “I’m not ‘here’.”

“Oh… OH…” Coulson said, nodding… “I’ll get right on that.”

The men carried Nelson past them into a chamber.

“What’s that for.”

“Do you two have security clearance for this?”

“Why?”

“If you don’t, I’m not going to tell you because I don’t have to. If you do, I’m not going tell you because you REALLY don’t want to know.”

One of the techs walked past with a container, the symbols on which Jemma recognized.

“That’s cyanide. You’re going to kill him.”

“Miss…

“Doctor…” Jemma snapped

Coulson looked at Fury, who nodded.

“He’s been infected with a disease we don’t understand. All we know is that once a person gets to level four, they become a drone to Stark. Everything they see and hear gets sent back to him.

“what, like the Borg?” Fitz asked.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“Fitz…” Jemma said “You realize what this is…”

“It’s not a disease, it’s nanotech.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s nanotechnology… Tiny robots in his body… Have you tried an EM pulse?”

“Tiny robots?” Coulson asked before turning to Fury. “Sir, is this some kind of a joke?”

“Do they look like they’re kidding around?”

Coulson looked at the pair then back at Fury, then back at Fitz and Simmons.

“So... how do we go about generating this pulse?”

 

The pair were explaining everything to Coulson while agent Parker stepped over to the coner and picked up a phone.

“Get me a direct line to Director Fury” He said into the receiver.

 

 

 

 

“ _The capacitor’s connected to the regulator. The regulator’s connected to the PMS. The PMS’s connected to the motherboard… If you don’t like my singing you can leave…_ ” Scott sang to the tune of “Dem Bones”, before looking up at Johnson, who was still in the corner.

Fury enter the room.

“How’s it going.”

“Well, if he stops singing, I might be able to get through the night without killing him.”

“Everyone’s a critic…”

She responded to this by chucking a loose piece of armor at him.

“Oww… Ok, I’ll stop.”

“So… I’ve been watching you work these past few hours, and I can’t help but wonder if you’re hiding anything from me… Would you mind telling me why there is another me wandering around New York?”

Fury handed him a photo.

“Stark must have sent them to find me…” Scott said with a smile before quickly adding “HOWARD Stark.”

“So this other Stark…”

“He’s about 108 years old, lives in a floating plastic lounge chair. He’s not the criminal mastermind type… Bit of a liar, but that’s a different story… He invented the devices on the plane, the thing on my wrist and everything else your Stark has been hording.”

“How do you know he has them?” Johnson asked

“If you folks need me to fix Robbie the robot here, you’re going to be scratching your heads at a Stark Device till you hit skull…”

 

“If I were to have the other’s brought here…” Fury asked, “Will there be guarantees of no trouble?”

“I can’t speak on their behalf…”

Fury began to reach for his gun.

“No trouble… no trouble…” Scott said, putting his hands up.

“Good…” Fury said “Johnson, take his tools… Let’s let Agent Riley get some shut eye…”

She yanked the screw driver out of his hands and walked out with the tool kit.

“What if I can’t sleep and decide to go back to work?”

“Too bad.” She said as they closed and locked the door before cutting the lights.

Scott looked out the one, small, window in the room, at the starry sky.

“I’m coming babe…” He said to himself, removing the screw driver from the original tool kit and getting back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that's a simplification of wiring/ wrong, it's just there for the joke.


	12. Chapter 12

“Coulson, I would have thought better of you?” Director Fury said has he walked into the room. Coulson looked at the man standing in the doorway and then over to the man standing with the two British scientists.

“I’m fired, aren’t I?”

“Not yet, let’s see.” His boss said, walking over to his sunglasses wearing dopplganger.

“Well, at least the multiverse knows how to keep a brother handsome…”

“Handsome, maybe. Worthy of this job, I’m not so sure.”

“Spare me, I’ve been listing to your agent Riley all day with his nonsense.”

“Scott’s with you?”

“You care?”

“I should, he’s my godson.”

The local version was taken back by that statement.

“It’s a long story, but the short of it is I helped deliver him.”

“I don’t want your life’s story, but I do want to know is what are you doing pretending to be me and ordering my men around.”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” Agent Parker said, “I didn’t confirm it you when I found him.”

“Parker, give me one good reason I shouldn’t demote you?”

“I found those two with him and they might be exactly what we need.”

He looked over at Fitz and Simmons.

“We’re ready.” The Scotsman said.

The pressed a button on the panel they were standing in front of and the man in the other room bucked and screamed like he was being tortured. Then, he suddenly stopped.

One of the techs went into the chamber and checked his pulse.

“It’s faint, but he’s still with us.”

The tech drew blood and passed the vile into a containment unit.

Simmons took over and examined the blood through a built-in microscope.

“I think it worked…” She said.

“Great.” The local Fury said, “What just worked?”

“Sir…” Coulson began “They may have just cured a level 4 infected.”

“Really? Well, that changes things.”

 

He brought the three travelers along with Coulson and Parker back to the Helicarrier and led them down to Scott, who’s lept back onto his cot when he heard the door open.

“Scott!” Fitz-simmons cried together and ran towards their friend.

“Oh, thank God!” Scott said, getting up and walking toward them, only for the local Fury to push past them and to shoot him with a taser.

“What the hell?” his double asked

“What?”

“Director,” Jemma said, “with all due respect, his physiology is different from us. He doesn’t fair as well in strong EM fields and you just electrocuted him.”

“Can it kill him?” he asked with genuine sounding concern.

“Yes, it can.”

She pulled the barbs out of Scott and helped him up.

“What the serious fuck is wrong with you?” Scott asked, clutching the spot where Fury had shot him.

“Wanted to be sure you weren’t infected.”

“What’s that? Your medical testing taser?”

“Oh… right, you don’t know.” The man said.

Jemma explained what had happened back in New York.

 

Scott looked up at the Fury who’d just attacked him, stood and then looked the man dead in the eye.

“Is there something about the fact I’M NOT a normal human that doesn’t register in that head of yours? Hum?”

Fury sighed.

“The last person who said they could help us turned out to be infected. I needed to be sure. Son, I want to believe you, but every time I think I’ve got the solution to end this madness, that son of a bitch pulls another rabbit out of his hat.”

“That last one.” Scott asked, “Did you kill them two?”

“No…”

He led them down to a room deep inside the core of the carrier. The inside was a chamber, not unlike the one the infected Mr. Nelson had been left in. Standing in the center was a figure in a black prisoner jumpsuit with their back to the door.

“Rise and shine metal face, you’ve got company.” Johnson said.

“Oh, daisy, I wish you wouldn’t call me that.” The figure said with an electronic sounding voice.

They turned around shocking the group.

The figure walked right at Jemma.

“Hello, Me…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you never read the Agents of SHIELD comic that adds the original characters from the show into Earth 616, spoilers, but one subplot ends with Jemma becoming a Deathlok to save her life. 
> 
>  
> 
> "Medical taser" is a refrence to SF Debris and the "Medical Phaser"


	13. Chapter 13

“You’re looking at the only known level 5 infected.” Johnson told them “What was once Dr. Jemma Simmons.”

Her skin was a polished sliver color in most places. Her hair was almost like it was thin strands of wire, seeming to bend and flex on their own. Her eyes glowed a dim red color.

“Why do you always talk about me like I’m dead?” the Simmons in the cell asked in her electronic voice.

“Because clinically you might as well be.” Director Fury said, “You haven’t had a pulse in over two years.”

“I didn’t need a heart anymore.” She just said.

Scott stepped the glass.

“They said you infected types are all connected to him. That true?”

“Yes, Agent Riley, it is.” She said, using his name as proof she knew who he was, and by extension so did Stark.

“Where are they?”

“They’re safe. For now. My king does not wish to harm them if you will come to meet him. Alone.”

“Ok, I’ll come. Just tell me where he is.”

“No, I’m going to bring you to him.”

“The hell you are.” Director Fury said.” Don’t know if you noticed, but that box is seal shut.”

“Director…” Robo Simmons said, shaking her head. “You’ve always underestimated me. I tried to help you. Tried to make this war end. But you just can’t see reason. The human body is weak. My ‘Infected’ as you call them, are the future.”

It was at this point Scott realized it wasn’t Simmons speaking.

“Stark… You don’t know what you’re dealing with. Those machines are dangerous, that’s why Skye and I hunt them down, to destroy them.”

“Funny, your robot seems to say otherwise.” Jemma’s body said before closing it’s eyes. It suddenly reopened them “Well, it seems my king has blessed you with his presence. Rejoice. For he has seen fit you shall not be killed.”

“Killed?”

Suddenly, an alarm klaxon began to sound.

“ _All hands, code red, we are under attack_!”

 

Fury ran over to a console on the wall, and a security monitor switched on. There were thousands of Iron Legion drones approaching the ship.

“I take it that’s not a regular occurrence?” Scott asked.

“Fuck no.” Director Fury said, while Scott’s “Uncle Nick” went straight for the door.

“Where are you going?” The director asked his counterpart.

“To do a job you seem to be unable to do…” he said as he left.

Scott ran after him, followed by Fitz and Simmons, with Johnson chasing after them.

“That’s the kind of dedication you could only hope for.” Metal Simmons said in her cell.

“Shut up.”

 

Daisy was laying on a bed. She hadn’t moved and barely eaten since she was tossed into the cell and told Scott was dead.

“Come on, sis, you gotta eat SOMETHING.”

“If they can swing me a double cheeseburger and my man to share it with, then we’ll talk.”

“Daisy… maybe we should face facts…”

“NO!” she said, sitting up.

“Daisy, why would they lie? You think I like the idea of my best friend gone?”

“They’re not lying, they just… They just don’t know him like I know him. Yeah, he’s a self-aggrandizing know-it-all who never shuts up about how smart he is and all the cool stuff he can do and all the places he’s been and all the important people he’s met… But he” she began to cry “… his heart makes up for all of it. He cares.”

She realized at that moment, how much of an ass she’d been since the doctors ordered her off her feet. Then she realized Skye might be right, she’d never see him again.

“If I’d have…”

“Daisy,” Skye said, “Please don’t start with the ‘Ifs’. That can only end badly.”

She gave her twin a hug.

“I never really saw him as self-aggrandizing…” Skye said

“Maybe I was just getting my feelings off my chest.” Daisy admitted. “Dating someone like Scott… can be ruff.”

“Try working with him.” Skye countered.

“Try living with him.” Daisy retorted back.

“I did, for a few weeks, remember?” Skye said with a laugh, sitting on the end of the bed.

“You think he’s still out there?” Skye asked

“I know he is…” Daisy said, lying back down.


	14. Chapter 14

“I thought they only had four levels of infection?” Fury asked Johnson as they made their way towards an armory.

“When an infected gets to level four, they go berserk.” She said “They lose all ability to reason, they just all seem to want to escape. To flee to where ever Stark is. Our working theory is they transform into level 5s once there.”

“You’ve never tagged one with a bomb and…” Scott began to ask before stopping himself. “You tried that, and the bomb didn’t go off…”

She nodded.

“Actually, it did, six months later in a parking lot in one of the breakaway states.”

“Breakway states?” Fitz asked.

“They didn’t explain that to you? The Second American Civil War?”

She started to tell them about what had happened.

 

 

 

“Come on, at least eat this.” Skye said holding up a bowl of soup. “Come on… here comes the choo-choo train…”

“Wrong Daisy…” her sister said. She didn’t need Skye pretending she was one of her toddlers.

“Actually, Sprout likes it when I do Airplane. It’s Scotty who like the train.”

“Another way he takes after his uncle… You know he suggested for our Honeymoon a train trip around the country?”

“That sounds nice…” Skye said before Daisy made a face “You do realize the risk you’re facing with this pregnancy? Maybe he doesn’t want you in a tin can in the air or on a ship if there’s a problem.”

Daisy stopped and remember what her doctor had said. Her HG bouts were just the tip of the iceberg. She was a high-risk case for multiple reasons, including the fact the baby wasn’t exactly human. Her future mother-in-law said her pregnancy with Scott had damaged her uterus, which is why she didn’t have other children, something she’d kept from Scott and had begged Daisy not to share.

“I haven’t thrown up since we got here.” Daisy pointed out.

“Because you’ve got nothing in your stomach to cough up…”

“Fine…” Daisy said, taking the bowl.

Skye made a small fist pump.

“Skye…” Daisy said “How can you be so chipper. You’ve been trying to cheer me up but… what about Jas and the twins? Aren’t you worried you’ll never see them again?”

“I’m trying to cheer you up so I don’t have to think about them.” Skye admitted. “Jas is stronger than she once was. And with Jemma and Fitz around, I think she’ll be alright. So, right now… EAT!”

 

 

 

“And once the walls sprang up.” Johnson continued “Communications between the sectors became almost impossible. Different factions started trying to fight for control and within a few years, War…”

“What sort of war?”

“attrition… terror… Each side vying for the other’s resources.”

“This is insane…” Fitz said.

“So are the people running things.

To Fury, Jemma and Fitz, this explained what they had seen back in New York. A nation on lockdown.

 

“So what happened with that Fritz Lang reject?” Scott asked as they got to armory.

Jemma shot him a look.

“She came to us two years ago, said she’d escaped from Stark’s custody. Every test we did on her said she wasn’t infected. We got to work trying to use the information she’d given to try and stop him… but she was a mole. She lead us into a trap. A lot of good men died that day.”

Johnson showed a tiny bit of emotion.

“There’s more to this, isn’t there?” Scott asked

“Simmons, while she was here… Before we found out…” Johnson said, “She was my lover.”

The four went back to prepping, ignoring her.

“That doesn’t shock you at all?” She asked.

“You never told her about Jas and Skye?” Fury asked Scott?

“Don’t think it ever came up.” He said as he slipped a tacticle vest over his head “Oh well…”

 

Once kitted out the five stood in the hallway.

“Ok, so, Stark has sent raiding parties on a few occasions, usually when he wants something badly and his agents can’t get to them.”

“Like the other me?” Jemma asked.

“Or some chunk of hardware. But he’s never sent this many. It’s usually only a small handful.”

“Could he be trying to get back the suit I’ve been working on?” Scott asked her.

“That’s a possibility, but he’s never shown interest in discarded tech. It usually self-destructs.”

“Maybe we should finish it before he has a chance to take it back. Fitz, come with me.”


	15. Chapter 15

Scott and Fitz ran back to Scott’s workspace while Johnson lead Fury and Jemma to the bridge.

“I thought you were going to go do the job I couldn’t” the Director said as they entered.

“Change of plans…” Fury told his other self as they looked at the monitors of the two tech nuts working feverishly.

 

Within a few minutes, the first wave of drones reached the ship.

“Open Fire!” The Director yelled. The anti-air defenses of the ship boomed to life, but the Iron Legion was too fast, and only a few of the robots go taken out.

 

“How much longer?” He asked over a microphone to Scott and Fitz.

“Should be ready now, just let me get in it.” Scott yelled back.

“You’re really going to do this?” Fitz asked.

“…Do we really have a choice?” Scott told him as he climbed into the armor.

 

Bridge shook as the Iron Legion drones began slamming into the ship, trying to bring it down.

“Sometime today would be nice” The director yelled to no one and everyone.

“He’s on the forward elevator.” Hill called.

“Send him in.”

The hatch on the flight deck side open and Scott, by himself in the bulky suit of armor, rose to face their attackers.

Given the changes that had to be made and the resources needed to make it useable, the suit had more in common with the original cave-built model when compared to anything else.

“You’ve got in coming kid,” The director said, “Look alive.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Two of the robots landed directly in front of him.

“That armor belongs to the Iron King.” One of them said “Surrender and remove it.”

“Yeah, not happening.” Scott said, throwing his hands out and blasting them with his powers. It ws enough to send them back a few feet.

“Scott…”  Fitz called over the radio “Try using Lincolns powers on them.”

“This suit has no insulation.” Scott said, “That’s not an option.”

 

“What’s he talking about?” The Director asked.

“Telekinesis is not Scott’s inhuman power.” Jemma told him. “That’s from his alien heritage. As in Inhuman, he can copy the powers of others.”

“So if he has a power that can stop them why wouldn’t he use it.”

“Because that power is electrical…”

“And he’s in a metal suit…” The Director realized. “One wrong move and it could kill him.”

 

“What’s going on?” Pierce yelled as he ran onto the bridge, followed by a few members of the council.

 

“We’re under attack, Mr. Chairman” Hill said, “You really should get down below where it’s safe.”

“Hold on a minute…” Pierce said, looking at the monitor screens.

He walked over to the microphone.

“Son, this is Chairman Peirce. Give those tin cans hell.”

“All of you, stop talking in my ear every God damn two seconds” Scott fired back.

He’d moved the repulsors from the palm of the hands to the top of the forearms, converting them solely into weapons. It seemed to be doing something, but that something was just drawing more attention to him.

Dozens of the robots had surrounded him on the deck, just as the power supply in the backpack was starting to show a problem. He weighted his options…

“Clear the section of the hanger below me.” Scott said.

“Are you insane?” Fitz called back

“Yeah… I am, now do it.”

 

Scott pulled the gloves he was wearing off and held his hands up.

“OK, fellas, I give up.” He said as he felt the surge through his body.

“Three, two, one” He said before jumping upwards. He tucked his limbs in as best he could, helped by the suit, and came down doing an off-kilter handstand. It was enough for the electrical energy in his hands to flow out and zap the drones standing around him, before he let go and belly flopped onto the deck.

He crawled onto the elevator again and they brought him back inside.


	16. Chapter 16

Scott’s little trick on the deck had done enough of a job that most of the robots were turning around and leaving.

A few of the deck hands helped Scott, still in the suit, down to the bridge to meet with the others.

“Fine work you did there.” Peirce said as Scott entered. He went to shake Scott’s hand and got a small zap.

“Sorry, I don’t have a lot of control when I’m stressed. That should wear off in a minute or two. Can I get some water?”

He sat down and began to climb out of the armor. He had succesfuly extracted himself by the time one of the agents returned with the bottle of water, which he dumped half off over his head straight away.

“What? It’s fucking hot in that thing.”

“We’ve got a stragglier…” One of the bridge crew yelled. The single drone flew around and aimed itself right at them. It slammed into the glass of the bridge at full speed, causing the glass to shatter and the decking to buckle.

Directly under Johnson. She found herself falling through the gap, hanging on to a part of the railing.

“Give me your hand!” Scott yelled. reaching out to her.

The mount gave way. A look of pure terror crossed her face as she dropped away, disappearing through the clouds, plummeting toward the ground. He panicked and froze. He didn’t think to reach for her with his powers till it was too late.

“DAMN IT!.” He said, slamming his fist into the deck.

“You know that wasn’t her, right?” Fury asked, putting his hand of Scott’s shoulder.

“What difference does it make?” Scott said, taking deep breathes. “she’s gone because I forgot something I’ve been doing my whole life.”

He picked himself up and started back towards the door

“Let’s get this thing back downstairs.” He told the deck crew. “I’ve got repairs to make to it. Gather up as much from the deck as you can and bring it to me.”

 

For the next day or so. Scott locked himself in the workshop. He didn’t eat. He didn’t sleep. He just worked.

“Scott, stop beating yourself up over this, it wasn’t your fault.” Xaiver said

“How’d you get in?”

“Spare keys.” The bald man said, holding them up. “I know what you’re going through, and it’s not because I can read minds.”

“The friends you lost?”

“Yes… One in particular. He and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye on everything. We fought over and over on the issues of how we mutants fit into society… But… He died. He saved my life during the wall rise, by giving his own.”

“I’m sorry…” Scott said.

“So, what are you working on?”

“I’m trying to replicate the arc reactor technology as I know it. It’s a lot smaller than these contraptions. And trying to get some of these suits usable by others. Be easier if it wasn’t just me out there.”

“Let me show you something that might help.” Xaiver said, holding up another key on the ring.

“If it’s Ghost in the shell girl downstairs, I’ve already met her.”

“No, Something Director Fury didn’t want you to see…”


	17. Chapter 17

Scott marched into the meeting room with a look of utter rage on his face.

“You had a panel from the box, and you didn’t tell me?” He said, slamming his hands onto Peirce’s desk.

“Simmons says she stole it.” The director said, coming up behind him. “That’s why we figured she was on the up and up.”

“Those things are dangerous.”

“We know that. The energy levels they give off.”

“Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, I know EXACTLY what that box can do and it needs to be gotten rid of. We need to find it, and launch it into the sun.”

“Why? With that box, we could end the war. We could bring peace.”

“They called the thing ‘Pandora’s Box’ for a reason.”

“I though you said…”

“SHUT UP!” Scott screamed. “I’m finding that box and I’m destroying it. I don’t know how, but I am.”

“Son, I can’t let you do that.” Peirce said, signaling for the guards.

“Like I care what you want, squid head…”

Peirce’s demeanor changed instantly.

“You said some friends of yours have history with my other self… I didn’t think it was that kind of history…” He said, getting up and walking around his desk. “Hydra and SHIELD have been working together to keep Stark in check. Enemy of my Enemy…”

“Bullshit. You guys don’t share.”

“Sometimes, sacrifices need to be made for the greater good. If working with SHIELD to keep people from being turned into mindless… things is what we need to do, then we’ll do it.”

“Sure, until you figure out how to get those mindless drones to do what YOU want.”

“Agent Riley, you’ve proven yourself to be of some use, so I suggest you get back to it or else we’re not going to need to around anymore…” He said “Get him out of here.”

 

The guards dragged him back to his workshop and barricaded the door.

Suddenly a faint blue glow appeared in the room. A small box materializing on the floor, with a note attached on top.

“ _Dear, Scott, I’ve been working on a way around whatever is locking out my controls. I have one shot to get this to you, I pray it works. - Howard_.”

“Well, if the thing has to miss 999 times out of thousand, I guess it comes through when it matters.”

He opened the box to see a welcome sight.

“Hello gorgeous…”

 

 

 

\-------

“Well, I sent it” Stark said before turning to face the one who’d ordered him to.

“Good” 827 said “My king thanks you for your help.”

“Command override 1! Voice Print confirm!” Stark said.

“I confirm your voice print, I just choose to ignore it.” 827 said.

“Why haven’t you killed me yet?”

“You know I can’t do that, at least, not by myself. I know how much your life depends on this facility… Be a such a same if someone were to… break it.”


	18. Chapter 18

Daisy awoke from a nap to find Mrs. Stark watching her.

“I’m sorry dear.” The older woman said “I was just thinking…”

“About your children?” Daisy asked.

“Yes… more so in your current state.”

Daisy felt her slightly showing baby bump.

“Have you given any thought to what you’re going to name the baby?” Stark asked.

“Well… yeah, actually. I had this friend. He… he died… trying to save me. We called him ‘Trip’, because his last name was ‘Triplett’ but his first name was Antoine. That’s what I plan to name it if it’s a boy.”

“And if it’s a girl?”

“Antoinette…”

“You’ll have your own Tony running around…”

“I didn’t actually think of that…” Daisy said with a laugh. “Maybe I’ll spell it with an I if we decided to call them that.”

“We?”

“I refuse to give up hope in Scott.”

“It’s been a good five days since you got here.” Mrs. Stark said, getting up.

“Our friend Fitz had himself frozen for decades to find us. Scott… he’d do just the same.”

“Well… I one can only hope.” Stark said as she walked out.

 

Three days passed. Fitz was brought down to work with Scott while Jemma and Fury were kept locked in separate quarters several decks up.

“You’re sure about this?” Fitz asked for the millionth time.

Scott just looked at him and glared.

“Maveth…” was all Scott said to shut his friend up.

Peirce and The Director, along with Xavier, were waiting in the council room. Scott and Fitz rolled their project into the room under cloth.

“What did I say about embellishments?” The Director asked.

“There’s a difference between embellishment as surprise…” Scott said as he yanked the cloth away.

They’d been successful in integrating the various bits of scrap metal into a suit the pair better recognized as an Iron Man suit. The only difference was the relocation of the ARC reactor to the waist and the head.

“What’s the with helmet?” Peirce asked.

“Well, we didn’t have access to the kind of tech we needed to replicate the helmet” Fitz explained “So we went with Plexiglass.”

“Well, maybe today might just be the day we can all wake up from this nightmare…”

“Tell me about it…” Scott said.

“You ready for this?” The Director asked.

“An’t got much of a choice, now do I?”

“Good luck Scott” Fitz said as he was led to rejoin his wife.

 

Scott climbed into the suit and began its power up sequence.

“Everything looks good… I think we can get this show on the road.” Scott said, taking the suit’s helmet off.

“Good to hear.” Peirce said before turning to the guards. “Get him up to the flight deck with Agent Logan.”


	19. Chapter 19

Scott followed the guards up to the hanger where mutant agent was waiting impatiently.

“You look ridiculous.” Logan said as Scott walked up in his new armor.

Scott ignored the other man and walked onto the quinjet.

“You stay out my way, bub…” Logan said, coming up the ramp behind him “And maybe you’ll live to see tomorrow.”

“Whatever.” Scott said, sitting down and crossing his arms.

Logan put his fist in front of Scott’s head. Two silver blades erupted from under the skin between his knuckles, passing the sides of Scott’s head.

A third began to poke out, directly at Scott’s forehead.

“Nice trick” Scott said, nonplussed. “Here’s mine.”

Logan suddenly found himself tossed across the jet’s cabin, landing in the seat across from Scott.

“Funny guy…”

“This isn’t my first rodeo big guy. I know what I’m doing.” Scott said as the jet took off.

 

“look…” Scott said a few minutes later “I understand why you don’t like me. Your friend Xavier told me everything.”

“Everything?” Logan growled

“Everything.” Scott repeated

“Mariko?”

“Everything…” Scott finished.

 

Logan looked down and sighed.

“You know…” Scott began “… that I’m not one of those kinds of Inhumans. The Moon? Really? Furthest from home I’ve ever been on my earth is Sardinia, it’s where I got this.” Scott said, pointing to his scar on his cheek.

“I thought you said you’re an alien?” Logan said

“Well, I am… partly…” Scott said

 

Scott told Logan about his history, and about the treatment people like him got on his own earth.

“Do they force you to join SHIELD? Like they do here?”

“No, but it is an option. I joined the old-fashioned way, went through the communications academy.”

“Funny, I had you pegged for one of those Sci-tech brainiacs.”

“Well, they required a PHD to get in the door and I was never the best student. Though I did spend some time there. My version of Director Fury is actually my godfather. He brought me in on a little program he was working, spent some time at the other two under false names. Never told the others that. We called ourselves Level Zero, sort of personal internal security program. Failed miserably, but the people he had us looking for got ahead of him.”

“Who were you looking for?”

“It turned out to be Hydra, but we found out too little, too late. I was coming back from Hawaii, doing a site upgrade job at a data relay at Pearl Harbor. I’m sitting in a Pizza Hut in the Phoenix airport, waiting for a connecting flight, when everything just goes to shit…”

 

The jet set down a several miles from the walls.

“Any closer and we’d be surrounded by those robots” The pilot said. “So, this is where I leave you fellas. Good luck.”

“How far are we?” Scott asked as he stood.

“About twenty miles.” The man said

“Oh joy… times like this I miss running cable…”

“Now there’s a name that takes me back…” Logan chuckled as they stepped out.

 

The two began a long hike, slowly watching the towering wall rise above the horizon as they went.

 

With about five or so miles to go, they decided to call it a day and rest.


	20. Chapter 20

They were back on their way at first light, hiking along what was left of Interstate 70.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the lake formed by the flow of the rivers blocked by the walls. Like Xavier had said, something was draining the water away. After fifteen years it should have been an inland sea.

Scott looked across and to his joy, _Zephyr Zero_ was sitting on a section of dry land close to the wall.

 

The reluctant duo continued toward the shore.

“Hold up.” Logan said. He ducked behind a wrecked car and Scott followed.

A rather sizable crowd were standing perfectly still near the shore in a perfect grid pattern. Every one of them was dressed in a dark grey jumpsuit.

 

“Oh great, that’s not creepy at all” Scott said, “Who are these guys.”

“Level 3 infected. Some of them travel here before they go crazy.”

“What are they wearing?”

“Someone gives them these uniforms, we don’t know who or why.”

 

The water began to be disturbed as if something was in it. Soon, several Iron Legion drones were rising up from the lake, surrounding a familiar “face”

 

“827…”

“You know that robot?” Logan asked “… better question would be ‘you know a robot?”

“He’s the one who tossed me out of my plane…”

 

“Greetings, children of the Iron King.” 827 yelled “Our glorious master has sent me to collect you”

“Oh noble prophet of our dear lord and master,” one of them spoke up “how many joyous souls will be joining him today?”

“Rejoice, for it is all of you!” 827 proclaimed

A cheer rose up.

“Do I even want to know what he’s going to do with them?”

“We don’t know.” Logan admitted.

The crowd of infected began walking towards the water. When the got to shore, instead of sinking, they began to walk along the surface of the water.

Logan looked on in confusion.

“How…?”

“Well,” Scott said, thinking “ether we have an actual miracle on our hands… or that’s not normal water…”

 

They waited for the infected to arrive on the other shore before venturing close to the water.

Scott reached out to touch the water, only to coil back in pain.

“FUCK!” he yelled

“What’s the matter?” Logan asked, nervously scanning around looking to see if anyone heard him.

“Something in the water… gave me a shock…”

“How bad?”

“For me… just about anything is bad…” Scott panted. It was the one downside of his new physiology. The blonde, female version of Barry Allen, who’d recently joined SHIELD, had compared it to her friend Kara’s species and their issues with certain kinds of radiation, but Scott’s grandmother had explained that this was unique to him.

Logan put his hand near the water and felt a small zap himself

“It’s like an electric fence.”

“The electric moat, when you absolutely want to keep people out…” Scott joked.

“You gonna be alright?” Logan asked

“There’s something on the plane that can help. Get me over there and we should be golden.” Scott said, working his way back to his feet.

“Can’t that suit fly?”

“I had to take that out, it didn’t fit with me in it.”

Logan let out a huff “So now what?”

“shut up and let me think…”

Scott stood and held out his hand. He gritted his teeth and strained.

“What in God’s name are you doing?” Logan asked.

“Trying to get the plane over here.” Scott forced out before falling to his knees.

“It’s no good.” Scott panted “It’s too far and I’m too stressed. I think that might kill me quicker than the electric water.”


	21. Chapter 21

Scott and Logan began to search the area around the shore, looking for some way to cross the lake.

As they passed an abandoned building, they heard a voice calling out to them.

“Hi there, and welcome to East St. Louis, gateway to the royal palace of the Iron King!”

It was a young woman, looked about 20 years old.

“Unfortunately, today’s selection ceremony has already occurred. But our master is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow always comes” She said with a smile that gave the two the creeps. “so you can try again then…”

Her body began to shake, and her voice suddenly changed.

“If you wanted to speak to me that badly, you should have just made yourself known. I will make it so you can cross.”

The woman stumbled a bit and then started running around the room in glee that Stark had used her to speak.

“What do you say we amscray before anything else weird happens?” Scott asked

“Not going to hear any complaining from me…” Logan said as the two left.

 

They returned to the shore, and, true to his word, the structure of the water had sifted to become some form of solid.

Scott took a step and found nothing. No shock, no splash. What looked like water was suddenly solid.

“How is he doing that?”

“If I had to guess, the nanites.”

“Nanny’s?”

“Nanites… tiny robots. They’re rebuilding themselves and the molecules around them into a solid structure for us to walk on.”

“I don’t understand a single thing you just said…”

“Just… come on, the sooner we get this over with the better.”

The walked across the lake, arriving at the jet plane.

Scott climbed inside and looked around. Everything was disheveled, but his smart choice had paid off, as they handed found what he’d hidden.

“Let’s find our way inside.” Scott said

“No need, Agent Riley.” 827 said, standing near an outcropping in the rocks with a few of the Iron Legon. “I am here to escort you to my master.”

“Like Hell…” Logan said, charging at the robots.

“Seriously…” Scott said before running past then commotion.

 

He found himself in a dark tunnel, dug out of the rock. He ran down it as fast he could, eventually reaching a large, round chamber.

“The box…” Scott said. He started to creep towards it, until he heard a loud “CLUNK” and the box began to rise up out of his reach, locking into place in the ceiling.

 

“Agent Riley… It’s a pleasure to meet you in person at last. I’ve heard so much about you.”

The voice sounded nothing like Tony Stark. It was deep, raspy. It was coming from a figure near the wall.

“So…” Scott said “You’re the Iron King?”

“Not exactly what you were expecting, I know. But we must make do.”

The form staring him down looked more the Obadiah Stane’s copy of the suit Scott had seen in the archives database, instead of anything the Stark of his world wore.

 

“So, what exactly do you want… Evolt.”

Stark let out a chuckle.

“Oh? You know about Evolt, do you? Something about a TV show? Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I put that little snake in his place a long, long time ago.” Stark taunted back. “It’s just me here.”

“Oh really…”

“You know, son, I will give you a lot of credit for getting this far. Repurposing my armor, for example. Take it off please.”

“No.”

Stark raised his arm and a jolt of electricity raced through the floor.

Scott yelled in agony and dropped to his knees.

“Halfway there.”

“Shut up.” Scott said “I take it you were watching me before…”

“You do just love the sound of your own voice, don’t you?” Stark said, causing the electricity to return, jolting him again and causing him to fall face forward.

 

The last shock overloaded the armor. Scott was stuck.

“Good, now get out of it.”

 

Scott did as he was told, and two of the infected entered the room to remove the suit.

“Remember, it’s dry clean only…” Scott said as they walked away with it.

 

“Do you ever stop?” Stark asked him as Scott got back to his feet.

“It’s a coping mechanism, sue me…”

“I’ve got a better idea… If you get me a few things… I will not only let you and your friends leave, I will leave your world alone?”

“Alone? Alone from what?”

“Oh… You’re going to love this, Agent Riley….”


	22. Chapter 22

The pillar with the box began to lower itself, followed by a series of hatches on the floor opening.

 

The missing Stark Devices rose up in a circle around the box.

 

“I’ve been practicing my little speech, it’s nice to finally have an audience to hear it.” Stark said. “So, when I combine the power of the box with the abilities of the machines the counterpart of my father invented, I will be able to spread myself to every corner of all existence…”

“You’re going to use these to spread your nanties?” Scott asked

“Precisely.” Stark told him. “I created these little guys to help, but they got loose. They infected me and then spread to others. Each of them is a part of my will. A part of me.

“I am the future of the human race. I am…”

“Tomorrow…” Scott finished.

“Very good, you were paying attention.”

“Enough to know that by the very nature of the multiverse, there is someone out there who will be able to stop you. Might not be me, but someone out there can.”

“How can you stop the coming of the dawn?”

“Save the bad guy speeches…” Scott told him

“Well, to the point, that’s fair…” Stark said, “I can see why my father choose you.”

 

“First, you shall retrieve the panel for the box from SHIELD.”

“Well, that’s easier said than done.”

“Good. Now then, there are a few things I want from you from your earth.  First of all, Your girlfriend’s father… Dr. Johnson. He had a formula for enhancing organic bodies… I want it.

“That stuff is really risky.”

“I will better allow the nanties to merge with weaker hosts.” Stark told him “Otherwise they wouldn’t survive. Now, where was I, oh, right, I want one of the crystals that give you Inhumans their powers.”

“I don’t have access to any.”

“Agent, you will _get_ access.”

“The substance you call ‘Gravitonium’, it intrigues me. I want five tons, or there about. And don’t give me some physics noises about weight and gravity.”

“I don’t know how to render it inert enough.” Scott said

“Well, find a way! Now, also, I know your world has its own Helicarrier, I want that.”

“That’s going to take some time, it was decommissioned a few years ago.”

“I will worry about getting it back up and running, you just worry about finding and getting it here.

 And one last thing….”


	23. Chapter 23

“No.” Scott said.

“You’re not in much of a position to bargain, Agent Riley”

“I will get you everything else… but no. You’re out of your mind if you think…”

“I told you, you’re going to give me everything I want, and you’re going to go home. What’s a few small sacrifices…?”

“How about you look me in the eye and say that, stop hiding behind your metal suit.”

“Well then, if that’s what it takes…”

Stark’s helmet opened and Scott got a good look at his face.

The sheer shock of what he saw froze him in place, enough that he didn’t notice that he had some someone behind him. Scott felt himself get blasted from behind, and it wasn’t the floor.

Stark’s helmet quickly snapped shut.

“Sorry I’m late, daddy.” A voice said.

“No, dear, you’re right on time.”

“No…”

 

Scott looked where the blast had come from. There stood Johnson, alive, out of her SHIELD uniform and instead wearing a variant of the uniforms worn by the infected, in this case all white.

“What the fuck?” Scott yelled “Why is this never straight forward?” he asked no one in particular.

He looked at the girl who shared a face with both the woman he loved and his best friend.

“Let me take a shot in the dark… He adopted you.”

“wow, you’re really good a paying attention.”

“Kept me alive so far…”

“I’ll give you some time to think over my offer, Agent Riley.”

“Take him.” Stark told the drones. “Put him in the with the others.”

 

 “So?” He asked as she led him down the corridor. “What level are you?”

“Level? You think I’m infected” ‘Johnson’ said “Daddy would never do something like that to me. Besides, we’re immune.”

“We?”

“Inhumans… the mutants two, but I doubt that asshole will survive his little fight. Always bit off more than he could chew…”

“Here we are…” She said, unlocking a door and shoving him in.

 

“SCOTT!” Daisy screamed. She bolted from her bed and practically tackled him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She repeated over and over.

“Hey…Hey… It’s ok…” He said, kissing her “I’m here…. I’m here…”

“I never gave up hope you were coming.” She said, tears running down her cheeks “I know my persistent idiot…”

 

“What’s all the… SCOTT?” Skye yelled, coming around a corner from another room. And older woman followed behind her.

“So… this is the famous Scott… Your fiancée wouldn’t stop talking about you.” She said.

 

Scott, Daisy and Skye’s pockets all beeped. Their phones were doing something on their own.

“I guess he’s ready.” The woman said.

 

They pulled out their phones, and the face of Stark’s suit appeared.

“ _People of the world. Your King requests your attention. For some time now… I have been searching for a way to complete my goal, of making all men one. To spread my gift to the four winds. Today, I think I’ve found just the way.”_

The image changed to the Stark devices surrounding the box.

“ _With this machine_ ” Stark continued “ _I shall be able to reach out to the minds of every man, woman and child, anywhere and everywhere. I am Tomorrow, and Tomorrow SHALL COME!”_

 

“Well, I guess this is it.” The older woman said as the video ended.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Scott said, rolling up his sleeve.

“ _It’s about time Master_.” Tallus said “ _And next time, please don’t leave me in that lock box like I’m some sort of jewelry_.”

“So you have a talking bracelet…” The woman said “Is that all you’ve got? How can you be so confident?”

“Because… They also don’t know about this.” He said, pulling small device from his coat pocket. “This was part of the suit I wore here. I was able to sneak it off.”

“What is it?” Daisy asked

“It’s called a Driver.”

“What does it do?”

“Oh, you’re gonna love it…”

 

**To be concluded in**

**Agents of SHIELD – Rise of the Iron Rider**

**Volume 2: _“Be the One”_**


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